Students participating in the Y-PLAN Richmond Healthy Cities Initiative recently took to the streets of Downtown Richmond to explore the neighborhood and map its strengths and opportunities for improvement. The Richmond Healthy Cities Initiative is a two-year action research effort to provide direct support to Linked Learning Pathways and The California Endowment Building Healthy Communities Initiative through Y-PLAN.

Deborah McKoy, Executive Director of the Center for Cities + Schools, recently presented a policy brief at the Urban America Forward: Civil Rights Roundtable Series National Conference in Washington D.C. She participated as part of the Healthy Communities panel, presenting a policy brief entitled "Planning Healthy, Vibrant Cities For and With Young People: The Power and Possibilities of Y-PLAN."

On Wednesday morning, March 2nd, fifty high school students from across New York City joined their teachers, principals, superintendents, and chancellor, as well as civic leaders from across the city, at the Y-PLAN NYC Pilot Launch in the Court Room at Brooklyn Borough Hall to share their early successes and challenges in implementing Y-PLAN.

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that devastated the Tohoku coastal region of Japan. CC+S's Y-PLAN Initiative has been honored to host over 600 students from this region at UC Berkeley to participate in a Y-PLAN Summer Leadership Studio in community revitalization for the last 4 years as part of the TOMODACHI initiative.